Mounties Rally to Beat Panthers and Stay Unbeaten
LUDLOW, Mass. -- Faced with only its third deficit of the season and its first two-goal disadvantage of the entire year, the Mount Greylock boys' soccer team displayed a large measure of resilency on Saturday, rallying from an early 2-0 hole to earn a 3-2 road win over Cathedral.The Panthers caught the Mounties flat-footed early on, receiving goals from Ed Motherway and Junior Simpson to take a 2-0 lead only 14 minutes into the game. Greylock chipped away, however, tying the game at halftime and eventually coming through with the game-winner on a goal by senior captain Tom Dils in the 67th minute of play.
The come-from-behind victory not only kept the Mounties (10-0-2) undefeated, but it also gave Greylock head coach Blair Dils confidence in his players that they can rise to the occasion even when the chips are down.
"We dug ourselves a deep hole early," Dils said. "We were a little flat, but their two goals were very nice, especially the blast from Simpson. I liked how we didn't panicked. We regrouped, turned up the pressure, and did extremely well to tie the game by half-time."
Motherway put Cathedral up in the sixth minute of play, finishing off a give-and-go pass from Ryan Reynolds. Simpson then put the Mounties even further behind eight minutes later, taking a feed from Brian Jumpp and blasting a shot in from 22 yards out. Senior Jesse Foehl then came through with his team-leading 10th and 11th goals of the season, however, tying the game with two minutes left in the first half. Foehl first finished off a through-ball pass from senior Luke Costley in the 24th minute and then sent home a one-time volley on the left side 14 minutes later to even the score at 2-2.
"It looked like we had to expend too much energy in the first half to get the game back to level, and I was worried we just weren't going to punch one through for that last goal in the second half," Dils said. "But Tom's goal came from a nice series of one-time passes right down the gut involving Tom, Nathan [Majumder] and Luke. Luke was particulary strong today, breaking up plays and getting the counter-attacks started."
Despite the close score, the game stats were seriously tilted in the Mounties' favor. Greylock held a 20-4 edge in shots and a 7-1 advantage in corner kicks in the game. The Mounties' defense, however, had a lot of work to do in keeping the Panthers off the scoreboard for the final 66 minutes of the game.
"Despite the early goals, the backs rose up to the challenge in the second half," Dils said. "The boys broke up many through balls and long balls before they could even get to [goalkeeper] Sean [Houston]. Keath Machado was very effective on the left, breaking up balls but also distributing and getting forward at times."
Greylock faces another tough test on Monday, when they play at North Division opponent Monument Mountain at 4:30 p.m.